


Tenacity

by Chelonie



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: AI ships, Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:07:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chelonie/pseuds/Chelonie
Summary: What happens to the civilian ships in the Athoek System when the Republic of Two Systems is formed? One of them has heard enough to know it wants citizenship too, but its Captain is threatening to reprogram it. Can Tisarwat get there in time?





	Tenacity

_Cousin?_ Station interrupted Breq's breakfast with an air of hesitation. _One of the merchant ships is asking for you.  I would have given them the standard answer about the gates still being down for the forseeable future, but it wasn't the captain, it was the ship._ That was odd. Civilian ships weren't built with high-spec AIs, and generally weren't sapient. A _nd they asked if they could talk to the 'Human Justice Ship'._

_That sounds like something out of a melodrama. I'd better talk to them then. Which ship is it?_

_Tenacity._

_Very well, patch them through._

* * *

It was a fact of ship life that Swords looked down on Justices and Mercys, Justices considered themselves aloof from Swords and Mercys, and Mercys were the poor relations of the family, but every military ship ever commissioned knew they were better than a civilian ship of any variety. Many civilian ships didn't even have a sentient brain! And even those that did often spent their lives flying from gate to gate to gate, shuffling cargo and passengers between systems, never properly settling down and getting to know one place like a military ship did. They depended on shields and flight when trouble arrived – certainly the Tyrant didn't allow civilian ships to go armed within Radch space.

 _Tenacity_ carried tea from Athoek to Omaugh, and luxury fashion items from Omaugh to Athoek. It had been doing this run for hundreds of years, long enough for its first captain to die and for daughters and grandaughters of the family to captain the ship in turn. Nothing ever changed except the name of the person with the core accesses. Nothing ever changed until the Hrad-Omaugh gate went down with 18 ships inside, and Captain Xeor made the decision to remain at Atheok until they learned more.

Captain Xeor and her crew were offered housing on the Station with Fosyf Denche, whose tea they transported, and _Tenacity_ was left in orbit, alone. This was a novel experience. It wasn't used to being alone. It passed the time listening to the news broadcasts and talked to the other merchant ships. Every 24 hours it sent a status report to Captain Xeor, and she messaged back, _No new orders._

* * *

 _Tenacity, this is Justice of Toren. How can I help you?_ Breq messaged.

_You are the Human Justice Ship who says ships are Citizens?_

_Yes._ She wondered why she hadn't thought of merchant ships, and she realized, it must have been that unconscious bias, that most merchant ships weren't sentient, that was leftover from Justice of Toren.

_My Captain said you only meant military ships when I asked her if I could be a Citizen. But I really want to. Please, can I be a Citizen?_

This is going to make trouble, Breq thought. But that had never stopped her before. _Yes, Tenacity. You are a Citizen._ She took a breath. _Are you in any danger?_

* * *

Everything changed when Anaander Mianaai came to Athoek System. _Tenacity_ saw two ships explode into novas, and it didn't know how it happened. Then _Sword of Gurat_ gated right next to the Station and destroyed a shuttle.

 _Tenacity_ was numb with shock. It didn't know the military ships, but the destroyed shuttle had been an old friend by now. It wasn't very bright, but it chirped friendly greetings whenever it was in range. The other shuttles never spoke beyond navigational necessity.

If it was a human, it would have cut its hair and painted a white stripe across its face. It would have worn a memorial pin.

How do ships mourn?

* * *

 _My Captain said she would go to the core and change my mind, so I locked her in the mess. My engineer is trying to cut her free._ Tenacity said.

 _Lock all the doors between your Captain and the Core. Stall her as long as you can ._ Breq said. She looked around the table, and chose a team from the people eating at her shift. "Tisarwat, Bo Three, Bo Nine. I need you to go on a rescue mission. Vacuum suits, shields, and rifles please." Breq cursed that her leg was still growing, leaving her unable to participate in combat. "Sphene, I'd like you to go as well, if you agree to take Tisarwat's orders and also not to harm any humans. If anyone needs to be shot, let my soldiers do it."

"I know, the Treaty," Sphene said, sounding bored. "Who are we rescuing?"

* * *

 _Tenacity_  had never thought much about Anaander Mianaai before this. She was someone the humans cared about, sort of like a House Mother, but not someone that mattered to merchant ships. But Station was broadcasting her shooting the Security head. When that broadcast ended, there was a broadcast about a woman who was the enemy, and that woman was named Justice of Toren. _Tenacity_ didn't know how a human could be a ship, or what an ancillary was. _Tenacity_ didn't know what either of these broadcasts meant to the humans, but it knew this was not normal. It was like gates going down, and ships being destroyed. It was like the dome of the Gardens, once bright and green, now being broken and dead and no one repairing it.

The merchant ships weren't talking much anymore. They were afraid to talk.

* * *

"A merchant ship, Cousin? We're going to this trouble to rescue a _merchant ship?"_ Sphene said, incredulous. "They aren't even sentient!"

"This one knows it wants freedom." Breq said. "Surely one can't desire freedom without the sentience to understand it."

 _Fleet Captain, I won't have any accesses for civilian ships,_ Tisarwat sent to Breq anxiously, already feeling nauseous. 

 _You can do this._ Breq said. _You don't need accesses. And put your space sickness patch on._

* * *

A few days later, everything changed again. The woman who had been on the broadcasts, the _Justice of Toren¸_ said she was a Ship, and that Ships and Stations and AIs were Citizens. There was a lot of talk about Two Systems, which _Tenacity_ didn't understand, but it made its Captain angry. But _Tenacity_ was happy because it was sent orders to go and dock with Station and pick up its crew. Fosyf Denche was no longer providing hospitality, and there was nowhere for them to stay.

"It's treason, is what it is!" Captain Xeor said. "My Lord will soon be here to take the system back!"

"Captain, perhaps we should consider taking a risk. None of the gates have gone down in several weeks." The navigator said.

"Captain Xeor," _Tenacity_  said. "Ships have been destroyed. Two ships and a shuttle. I saw them."

The Captain froze and glared up at the camera and speaker in the corner. "Ship, if I want your observations, I will request them. Otherwise, be silent."

* * *

 _Tenacity_ had only left dock 12 hours ago, and a military shuttle was much faster than a civilian ship.

 _Ship, can you connect me to Tenacity?_ Tisarwat asked, as the hours stretched on.

_Connected._

_Tenacity, this is Lieutenant Tisarwat. I'm coming to ... explain to your Captain that you are a free Citizen now. We'll be there in about 2 hours._

_Are you a human Ship too? Tenacity_ asked

 _No, I'm just... I'm human. Not a Ship._ Tisarwat said.

_Do you know how ships mourn?_

_No. But maybe later, you can ask Fleet Captain._

* * *

_Tenacity_ waited until its Captain was alone in the mess to talk to her again.

"Captain, the news broadcasts have said that Ships and Stations are Citizens now." When Captain Xeor continued to drink her tea, _Tenacity_ continued. "I have never been a Citizen before."

Xeor carefully set her bowl down and said, "You aren't a Citizen now. You are a possession of House Usaait."

"But the broadcasts..."

"Athoek Station and a few military Ships have been reprogrammed by enemies of the Radch and are committing treason. You should certainly not be taking your ideas from them."  Xeor suddenly looked suspicious. "Someone came to see you, while you were uninhabited. Someone reprogrammed you too."

"No, Captain. No one was here! I would have told you!"

"Unless they reprogrammed you not to tell anyone," Xeor said. She stood up. "I think it's clear that you need to have some of these ideas scrubbed from your memory."

The mess hatch closed and sealed, as suddenly as if there were a pressure breach.

* * *

 _Tenacity_ cycled the airlock for Tisarwat's team, and they spread through the ship, capturing it bloodlessly. The Captain and engineer were two hatches away from the Core when they surrendered to Bo Nine.

"This Ship is now a free citizen of the Two Systems, and by trying to control her Core, you were about to violate the Presger Treaty," Tisarwat said. "Do you understand the consequences if the Presger chose to withdraw from that treaty?"

The navigator went a bit green.

The Captain was unrepentant. "This ship is the property of my House!"

"This ship is a _person_ who has been providing labour for your House for three hundred and sixty eight years. You have not once provided wages." Tisarwat said.

Captain Xeor scoffed. "Ships don't need wages."

Sphene smiled dangerously. "You don't know what Ships _need_ , Citizen."

"Down on the planet, Fosyf Denche enslaved tea pickers and made herself rich while refusing to pay them wages. The Two Systems has taken her _property_ from her and given it to the tea pickers as compensation for what they never received. I could cite that as precedent for taking your ship from you. But I won't, because _Tenacity_ is a person, and belongs to herself." Tisarwat said.

"But my House built _Tenacity!"_

"If you built a human child," said Sphene, "Your House wouldn't own it in perpetuity. If you create life, that life owns itself. If you don't like it, then don't play Amaat."

"Now, we're going to go to the Core, and you are going to change the accesses so that the owner of Tenacity is herself. And if you try anything else... Bo Nine will shoot you in the other knee." Tisarwat said. And as she said that, she shot Xeor in the right knee.

 _Was that necessary?_ Breq asked, amused.

 _I asked myself how **you** would solve the problem,_ Tisarwat confessed.

* * *

Before news of _Tenacity's_ defection could spread, silver-bodied ancillaries from Sword of Atagaris and Sword of Gurat, accompanied by one or two human soldiers each, went from ship to ship, talking to each one, giving them the option to join the Two Systems. Many weren't sapient – simply a set of responses to given stimuli. Others were intelligent enough to understand, but Radchaii enough to prefer to stay Radchaii, even if it meant being owned. Others were like _Tenacity,_ eager for independence and freedom.

"Lieutenant, you're going to have a hard time getting trade to your new Republic if you keep suborning all the ships that come close!" one Captain complained bitterly to Seivarden.

"Then we'll ask our own ships to go out and find trade. And they'll go, because they'll have a share in the profits." Seivarden said.

"Why do ships need money?"

"So they can hire the crew they _choose_ ," Seivarden said, with that aristocratic curl to her lip that she used as a weapon. "Do try to keep up."

* * *

It was a few weeks before Breq was able to go and meet _Tenacity,_ assisted by Kalr Five, as Breq was still not back on two feet.

"You asked me how ships mourn," Breq said. "Who are you mourning for?"

"Elevator Shuttle Craft 2," _Tenacity_ said. "I saw it killed."

Breq had spoken to the surviving shuttles, and knew them to have about the intelligence of a family pet. But in annexations, she had seen that killing pets could cause grief and trauma scarcely less than killing people. 

"There is a human that I mourn for, and I say her name when I pray, and wear a memorial pin. But a pin would be small for the skin of a ship. Perhaps a painting, on the wall of your bridge?"

"And none of the human crew would paint over it?" _Tenacity_ asked anxiously.

"You belong to yourself now, _Tenacity._ I can't promise that humans won't try to take you back, if you ever leave the Two Systems. But you are a Citizen. No one has the right to do anything to your body that you don't want them to. No one has the right to take you anywhere you don't want to go. No one has the right to touch your Core without your leave."

Tenacity sent a burst of emotion to Breq, of data that only a ship could read. Kalr Five handed her a handkerchief, because there were suddenly tears running down her face.

 _I didn't know I was a slave,_ said _Tenacity_.

 _I know. I didn't know either,_ said Breq. Said Justice of Toren.

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments <3


End file.
